Personal Injury Blogs Archive

Findings of contributory negligence against passengers who fail to wear a seatbelt and those who voluntarily get into a car with a driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs are commonplace. This blog aims to set out the underlying principles for quantifying the appropriate deduction to make in either case and to consider the…

In Seabrook v Adam [2021] EWCA Civ 382, the Court of Appeal held that a Claimant’s Part 36 offers to accept a ‘discounted’ 90% of his claim for damages to be assessed were not effective when causation was successfully challenged. The full judgment is available here. The claim arose out of a road traffic collision in which the…

In The Trustees Of The Barry Congregation Of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB [2021] EWCA Civ 356, the court revisited the two-stage test for vicarious liability and considered the application of the tailored close connection test to cases involving adult victims of sexual abuse. The judgment is available here.  The Facts In the mid-1980s the Claimant…

Today, 19 March 2021, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in the conjoined appeals of Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake; Shannon v Rampersad and another (T/A Clifton House Residential Home) [2021] UKSC 8. This is an employment law case that will be of real interest to personal injury practitioners. The judgment is available here. The headlines…

An appeal is currently outstanding from the significant decision made on appeal by the High Court in Griffiths v TUI UK Ltd [2020] EWHC 2268 (QB). The Decision at First Instance The proceedings arise out of a claim brought by the Claimant against the Defendant for a gastric illness he suffered whilst on a package…

The significant uncertainties in the economy and the employment market caused by the pandemic may lead to an upsurge in defendants arguing that damages for future loss of earnings should be assessed by way of a Blamire and/or a Smith v Manchester award rather than using the multiplier/multiplicand method. It could be contended that, applying…

During January 2021 the Court of Appeal handed down three judgments on appeals relating to strike out applications under CPR 3.4(2)(b): Allsop v Banner Jones Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 7, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP v BTI 2014 LLC [2021] EWCA Civ 9 and Tinkler v Ferguson [2021] EWCA Civ 18. To see the full judgments, please use the following links:…

The recent case of Hopkins v (1) Akramy (2) Badger Group (3) NHS Commissioning Board [2020] EWHC 3445 (QB) considered whether an NHS Primary Care Trust owed a non-delegable duty of care with regard to healthcare services provided by a third party. HHJ Melissa Clarke, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, held that…

On 16 February 2021 the High Court handed down judgment in Martlet Homes Ltd v Mullalley & Co Ltd [2021] EWHC 296 (TCC), which gives guidance to practitioners on the often misunderstood role and remit of a Reply to Defence. To read the full judgment, click here. The Facts Martlet was not a personal injury claim. For…

A judgment resolving various cross-applications a few weeks before trial in a serious PI case is perhaps not the most obvious subject for a blog. However, there is so much packed into the 15-paragraph judgment of Fordham J in Pass v Ministry of Defence [2021] EWHC 243 (QB) and the result is an unfamiliar one.…

Bankruptcy orders are relatively rare. Having never exceeded 10,000 per year before 1990, they exceeded 100,000 in 2009, and have only occasionally dipped beneath that figure. Even at those numbers, in recent years they approximate to 26 people per 10,000, or about a quarter of one percent. However they will inevitably rise as an economic…

On 28 January the High Court handed down judgment on an interlocutory appeal in Kasem v University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2021] EWHC 136 (QB). Saini J struck out the Claimant NHS Trust’s statement of case for a defective pleading of common law deceit. The Facts In May 2013 Mr Kasem underwent a…